Second O.C. Parade Denies Minuteman Bid to March

The Minuteman Project, an anti-illegal immigration group, has been refused entry by a second Orange County parade.

Last month, the border patrol group was barred by organizers of Laguna Beach’s 40th annual Patriots Day parade, which takes place Saturday.

On Thursday came a second rejection: Organizers of the March 25 Swallows Day Parade in San Juan Capistrano said they wouldn’t let the group march either.

The reasons were similar to those provided by the Laguna Beach organizers, who said their bylaws prohibited political or religious groups from parading.

In a written statement, the board of directors of the San Juan event said “the controversial, political message of the Minutemen is not consistent with the spirit of community that the parade celebrates.”

The San Juan Capistrano Fiesta Assn. voted 15 to 0 to reject the Minuteman application.

Minuteman co-founder Jim Gilchrist was surprised. He insists that Jeff Schroeder, the assistant parade chairman, invited him to apply in front of 40 people at a breakfast. In the parade organizers’ written statement, Schroeder denied having invited Gilchrist.

Fifty Minuteman supporters were intending to march in the Swallows Day Parade, a large equestrian procession celebrating the annual return of the swallows to San Juan Capistrano from Argentina.

Gilchrist says his organization is being unfairly excluded.

“This is typical 21st century witch hunting.... It’s the same mentality but different targets,” said Gilchrist, whose group garnered international media attention in April 2005, when it conducted citizen patrols of the Mexican border in Arizona.

The Minuteman Project sued for a spot in the Laguna Beach parade, but on Feb. 7 an Orange County Superior Court judge declined to order organizers to include the group.